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Some real men and boys games take place this week, and the ACC will begin to show its true colors this weekend, one way or another. Just for a change, I'll have a little WHAM!-centric theme.
Wake Me Up
Wake Forest will stay at home to take on a 16th ranked Nebraska team that may well give them fits (huzzah for Bill Callahan's ability to run an offense, if nothing else). Don't count the Deacons out, because they aren't top notch, but they are no slouch either, and the Huskers may very well be looking ahead to USC next Saturday or counting greenbacks (Callahan's new five-year contract signed this week) to really give Wake Forest their A-game.
Before You Go-Go (to Norman)
Miami (FL) gets the real test when the Hurricanes have to travel to Norman, Oklahoma to take on the 5th-ranked Oklahoma Sooners. It's hard to really predict the game, since Oklahoma and Miami's respective laughers against North Texas and Marshall (by a combined 120-13) didn't really answer any questions about Miami's offense or Oklahoma's defense. Miami is certainly looking to knock Oklahoma down a peg, and if their defense is all it's cracked up to be, this will be, as they say in the Okey-Doke state, a real humdinger.
Don't Leave Me Hanging On
Then there's the big daddy game this week, where 9th ranked Virginia Tech will travel down to the Bayou to take on the second best team in the country, the LSU Tigers. Perhaps it was raw emotion, perhaps it was looking ahead, but Virginia Tech was only able to manage a 17-7 win over lowly East Carolina last weekend. That means VT will be trying to prove something again this week, which is bad news for the Tigers, because Tech is a dangerous team even when they don't have extra emotion. LSU's offense started slow - much like the Hokies - last week, but at least theirs got going eventually, en route to a 45-0 blowout of Mississippi State. Odds are whichever offense gets hot first will go crazy, and this one will likely not be as close as the final score may indicate.
Article comments
1 - Doug Hunter
Wow, you were wrong on almost every prediction. It actually takes talent to be that bad.
2 - Benjamin Cossel
Ummmm, you do realize that this is an amalgamation of writers and not one single person right?